The iPhone 16 has only just hit store shelves but we are already seeing leaks and rumours come thick and fast for the phone that will be its main rival, the Samsung Galaxy S25. Expected to launch in January 2025, the Galaxy phone announced at the start of the year is usually the main flagship Android phone going up against the iPhone that has been unveiled a few months prior.
As expected, several leaks of alleged Galaxy S25, S25 Plus and S25 Ultra models have cropped up online, and there aren’t too many surprises.
Android Headlines published what it says are renders of the S25 Ultra, and this phone is said to switch to flat edges, following the regular S24 and S24 Plus from this year – the S24 Ultra had rounded off sides but it seems as though the whole Galaxy S25 series will have flat edges, echoing both the iPhone 16 and Pixel 9 series.
It’s a shame that these three major phone ranges are ending up all looking quite identical. We miss the days where manufacturers differentiated on handset design, where now Apple, Samsung and Google are all playing to the same tune – and looking at history, it seems as though Apple is the trendsetter, first putting flat edges on the iPhone 12 back in 2020.
One key area, according to leaks, that Samsung might be looking to beat the iPhone 16 is with how thin the Galaxy S25 will be. Tech tipster Ice Universe claims the regular Galaxy S25 will be 7.2mm thick, which is 0.6mm thinner than the iPhone 16. This doesn’t sound like much, but these dimensions are noticeable on slim devices we hold in our hand.
Looking back at previous Galaxy S phones, it would make the S25 the thinnest since 2015’s Galaxy S6, a beautiful phone that was just 6.8mm thick. That said, the S6 had memorably terrible battery life, so we hope Samsung has figured out how to keep the S25 running for a full day and then some.
Sometimes, the thinning down of phones means smaller batteries, but in recent years phone makers have thickened the devices in our pockets to give us all better battery life – something we are all for. But with the rumour the S25 will get a severe slimming and the ongoing whispers that Apple is lining up a so-called ‘iPhone 17 Slim’ that will be a razor-thin iPhone sold alongside regular models but at a higher price, it seems the tech industry is going full circle and chasing thin devices again. Jony Ive will be happy.
Express.co.uk praised Samsung’s Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus handsets this year for their solid battery life, updated flat edge designs and cheaper prices but we didn’t wish they’d get any thinner. The S24 is a relatively compact phone for 2024 with a 6.2-inch screen and fits most pockets.
Perhaps the fact that Apple, Samsung and Google all have such similar looking phones and are looking to slim down devices by fractions of millimetres is just another sign that smartphone design is stagnant – reflecting the general reported flattening of global smartphone sales figures worldwide as we all hold onto our handsets for longer than ever due to unattractive upgrades and the cost of living crisis.
